Card clothing



June 7, 1960 E. TEMPEST ETAL 2,939,183

CARD CLOTHING Filed March 12, 1957 United States Patent CARD CLOTHINGErnest Tempest and Geoffrey H. Tempest, Leeds, England, assignors toJoseph Sellers & Son Limited, Cleekheaton, England Filed Mar. 12, 1957,Ser. No. 645,443

Claims priority, application Great Britain Mar. 23, 1956 6 Claims. (Cl.19-114) This invention relates to card clothing for covering thecylinders or rollers of textile carding engines and similar machines.

Orthodox card clothing usually consists of a suitable foundationmaterial set with wire teeth whose crowns or heels are arrangedparaxially to the cylinders or rollers upon which the clothing issecured. During operation of the machines the teeth of the clothing tendto become choked with fibre and foreign matter, consequently, periodiccleaning or fettling of the card teeth has to be effected duringstoppages of the machines, resulting in considerable loss of workingtime and variations in quality of the carded material. Furthermore, thefettling operation is a somewhat tedious and unpleasant task.

An object of the present invention is to reduce the time lost forcleaning and maintaining card clothing by providing new or improved cardclothing for textile carding engines and similar machines whereby theteeth of one roller or the like automatically clean the teeth of acoacting roller during operation of the machines. This cleaning actionmay operate either simultaneously with usual carding operations of theteeth or may function solely for cleaning purposes.

To this end the new or improved card clothing consists of a foundationmaterial in which are set wire teeth, said teeth each having two limbswhich are joined at their bases by a crown or heel and which lie in thesame plane as said heel, said teeth being set in said material in amanner whereby the heels of the said teeth occupy or lie in a directioncorresponding approximately to the direction of rotation of the rollersor the like to which the clothing is secured, that is to say, with onelimb of each tooth leading to the other limb. Such a disposition of theteeth imparts stability thereto as compared with the orthodoxdisposition because the rearward pressure on the teeth during operationof the machine is resisted by the resilient strength of the tooth actingalong its longitudinal axis in which its limbs and heel lie, whereaswith the orthodox disposition the teeth offer little resistance.

The working limbs, that is the limbs of the teeth which operate with thecleaning action, are inclined, with respect to the foundation material,rearwardly relative to the direction of rotation of the roller on whichthey are mounted so as to clean with a dragging motion as opposed to adigging or prodding motion.

In the particular application where the card clothing is intended to beused on a separate cleaning roller, e.g. in the case of a dickey ordotfer stripper roller, each tooth may be in a simple substantially Uform with the two limbs of the tooth of the same or unequal length, andlying in a plane at 90 to the foundation material. This arrangement ofteeth should not preclude any of the other arrangements of length oflimb and angle of inclination to the foundation material which arehereinafter described, from being used on a dickey or doffer stripperroller or separate cleaning roller to be used in cleaning any rollers ona carding engine or similar machine. The actual arrangement of tooth,length of limb and angle of inclination to foundation material isgoverned by the type of material (e.g. wool, cotton, silk, syntheticfibres or mixtures of any of these fibres) to be processed on a cardingengine or similar machine.

Each tooth may have two upstanding limbs of the same or differentlengths and one limb may be clenched down onto or into the foundationto. give increased stability. Preferably the wire used for the teethaccording to the invention is of somewhat higher tensile strength thanthat of normal card clothing wire.

In order that the invention may be more clearly understood and readilycarried into effect the same will now be more fully described withreference to and by the aid of the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figures 1 to 3 illustrate three diiferent forms of teeth according tothe invention; I

Figures 4 and 5 are an elevation and perspective view respectivelyofanother form of tooth;

Figures 6 and 7 and 8 are respectively an elevation, plan and under viewof a portion of card clothing according to this invention and shown asapplied to a roller;

Figure 9 illustrates the use of the said clothing on the fancy roller ofa carding engine;

Figure 10 illustrates a substantially U form of tooth viewed in theplane in which it travels.

The arrows in the drawings indicate the direction in which the teethtravel when inserted in the foundation and mounted on a roller.

Referring to these drawings, Figure 1 shows a form of tooth having astraight heel 1 and two limbs 2, 3 which are bent through an angle whichis preferably between 55 and according to the type of material which is'to be processed by the carding or other machine with which the teeth areto be used. The limb 2 is longer than the limb 3 and is the working limbwhich performs the cleaning action, its length being (say) from to 1%"according to the type of card clothing which it is to clean.

This form of tooth is shown in Figures 6 to 8 set in a suitablefoundation material m, each tooth being set with its heel lying in linewith the direction of rotation of the roller on which it is mounted,this being indicated by the arrow in Figure 6. The working limbs 2 thushave a rearward inclination in the same plane as the heel and the teethmay be set in any suitable pattern such as that illustrated where theyare in rows having staggered sets of four, the rows being so spaced thatthe ends of the short limbs 3 lie amongst the limbs 2.

The form of tooth shown in Figure 2 has two limbs of equal length andequally inclined, the foremost limb 3a being also a working limb in thiscase. This tooth is shown in Figure 3 viewed in the plane in which ittravels, 3c representing either the front or the rear limb. Where thetooth has a non-working shorter limb its length is immaterial so long asit serves to secure the tooth in the foundation. In Figure 3 the shortlimb 3b is bent at to the heel 1 and is approximately half the length ofthe limb 2. If desired the end 3x of the limb 3 or 3b may be clencheddown upon the face of the foundation in. either sideways as shown inFigures 4 and 5 or in any other desired direction.

If desired, one or both limbs of the teeth or the outer portions onlythereof may be bent one or more times either in the plane of the heel,at right angles to such plane or in other desired directions. This mayenable the teeth to be inserted in the foundation with the base of thelimbs at any desired angle to the foundation, but ensure that theirouter or working portions shall lie at the angle necessary to producethe cleaning or working effect according to the invention.

A method of employing the new or improved card Patented June 7, 1960clothing for simultaneously effecting carding and automatic cleaningoperations is to utilise the said clothing upon the fancy roller orrollers of a textile carding or similar engine. This is illustrated inFigure 9"Which shows the normal card clothing teeth 4 on the swiftororthodox clothing according to requirements.

Should it be desired to utilise the new or improved card clothing solelyfor cleaning the teeth of any ofthe rollers or cylinders of a cardingengine, thenia suitable clothed rolleror rollers may be'mounted upon theengine in proximity to the cylinder or rollers to be cleaned (forexample, a swift or cylinder, a doifer, a stripper, a worker or aclearing roller) and suitable means ,provided for .driving the cleaningroller or rollers.

In this manner and by these means rollers whose card clothing has becomeladen with fibre to the extent that efficient working of the cardingengine or similar machine is impaired, may be cleaned. Alternatively thecleaning operation may be carried out continuously or intermittently sothat any such rollers do not become laden with fibres to the extent thatefficient working of the carding engine or similar machine is impaired,thus preventing loss of working time, reducing the variation in qualityof product which takes place when the rollers are gradually becomingladen with material, and relieving operators of a somewhat unpleasanttask.

What we claim is:

1. Card clothing for covering the cylinders or rollers of textilecarding engines and similar machines comprising in combination afoundation material and wire teeth, said teeth each having two limbswhich are joined at their bases by a heel and which lie in the sameplane as said heel, said -teeth'being' set in said material with theirheels lying in a direction corresponding approximately to the directionof rotation of the cylinders or rollers around which the clothing issecured so that one limb of each tooth leads the other limb, each suchtooth having at least its working limb inclined, with respect to thefoundation material, rearwardly relative to the direction of rotation ofthe cylinder or roller around which said materialis to be secured.

2. Card clothing constructed as called for in claim 1,

and wherein the plane in which the working limb or limbs of each toothlie is disposed at 90 to the'foundation material.

3. Card clothing constructed as called for in claim 1, and wherein bothlimbs of each teeth are working limbs and are of the same length.

4. Card clothing constructed as called for in claim 1, and wherein theforemost limb of each tooth is shorter than the other limb andconstitutes a non-working limb.

5. Card clothing constructed as called for in claim *4, and wherein theend portion of the shorter limb is clenched down upon the opposite faceof the foundation to that on which the heel lies. Y

6. Cylinders or rollers for textile canding engines and similarmachines, covered with card clothing which is constructed and arrangedas called for in claim 1.

References Cited in the'fi'le of this :patent UNITED STATES PATENTS241,997 Kershaw et a1. a..- May24, 1881 795,946 Thielman Aug. 1, 1905-944,031 Gillet a Dec. 2 1, 1909 FOREIGN PATENTS 237,250 Great BritainMay 27, 1926 467,015 Germany Feb. 18, 1929 640,144 Germany Dec. 23, 1936

